How Did You

Do That?

An Artistic

Skillshare

More than 18 workshop contributors and 150 attendees made PSC’s How Did You Do That? An Artistic Skillshare a rich and rewarding four-day program. This began on Thursday night with us fanning out across the festival of Artist-Run Culture, visiting galleries and microblogging with the hashtag #ARCPSC about sculpture of note. Who knew this social networking would be such hard work, in part because so little sculpture featured at the Weekend. PSC lamented this at the Friday night social The Eye of the Storm. Taking place in our Skillshare venue, the CLF Café in the Bussey Building (Peckham), this low-key lounge was a little R&R amidst the Skillshare’s dynamic programme.

Saturday kicked off with Dominic Tschudin’s workshop on photo-documenting 3D practice. Dom’s repertoire of strategies for capturing tough-to-picture artworks proved a boon to attendees. So too did art educator Dr. Katrine Hjelde and freelance curator Ellen Mara De Watcher’s incisive feedback session. These two knowledgeable practitioners brought very different points of view to the ‘cold critique’ and ‘blind review’ as they offered their impressions on anonymised portfolios. The final session of the day, Ben Burtenshaw’s workshop on creating your own WordPress site, proved especially popular. Practitioners of many stripes got a sense of what it takes to get a website up and running.

Despite spectacular transport delays on the Sunday morning, Marsha Bradfield’s writing workshop on personal/artistic statements was oversubscribed. One-on-one sessions ensured focused attention on beginner writers through to professionals. From the personal to the systemic and back again, Precarious Workers Brigade’s dynamic exploration of cultural work raised more questions than it answered. We discussed working conditions in the arts and beyond. Targeted at emerging artists 16+, this exchange highlighted the urgent need to build solidarities and take collectivised action to ensure that cultural production is more equitable, accessible and accountable. Finally, How Did You Do That? The Nuts and Bolts of Ambitious Sculptural Projects capped off the skillshare with inspiring presentations by Alex Chinneck, Aaron McPeake, Rachel Pimm, David Rickard, Lucy Tomlins and Sam Zealey about their diverse projects and commissions.

Running throughout the weekend the Sculpture Playhouse was a family-friendly zone for creating and playing with folded paper sculptures. Facilitated by David Barnett of See ‘n’ Make, these accordion shapes engrossed local kids as well as those visiting the Art Licks Weekend with their parents and grandparents.